The 100 Season 5 Casts Its Big Bad

Season 5 of The 100 has found its Big Bad. So much has changed over the first four seasons of The 100. When the series began none of the main characters had ever set foot on land before. Since that first episode, when one hundred children and teenagers were sent to Earth from their home in outer space, they have faced numerous dangers and experiences. From the Grounders initial hostilities to being medically abused at Mount Weather to being brainwashed by A.L.I.E. to surviving another nuclear meltdown, the characters on The 100 are in constant jeopardy as they struggle to survive.

And on a show where main characters get killed off with some frequency — maybe not at the same pace as on Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead but still fairly consistently — those dangers are a real and valid threat. Already the show has lost many favorites, including original members of the 100 Finn and Jasper as well as Grounders Lincoln and Lexa. Odds are pretty good that more will be gone in the six-year time jump between seasons 4 and 5. And the ones who remain alive will certainly have new obstacles to face.

According to TVLine, one of those obstacles is a new villain — Robert McCreary, played by Spanish actor William Miller. According to the official cast description, McCreary is “a mysterious prisoner aboard the long-distance mining mission sent from our time. A former enforcer from a powerful crime syndicate, his ruthless, violent methods make him a formidable antagonist to our heroes.”

The phrase “from our time” is incredibly relevant. The 100 is set in a dystopian future, around a century after a nuclear apocalypse devastated the planet. Even the scenes which take place around the time of the disaster which nearly destroyed the planet seem to be set in our future. There are certainly elements of technology which do not exist in the real would today. So if McCready is from our time, he is well over a hundred years old. How he is alive and how he looks so young will presumably be explained in the fifth season, but for now it remains a mystery.

Miller has worked with The 100 creator Jason Rothenberg before — last year Miller was cast in the pilot for Rotherberg’s show Searchers. While the pilot did not lead to a series, Miller clearly made a good enough impression on Rothernberg to be given this role on The 100.

And Miller is not the only change in the show’s cast. Tasya Teles — who plays Echo — has been promoted to series regular. Imogen Tear, who was seen in the final moments of season four as Clarke’s “daughter” Madi has been replaced by Lola Flanery. And Isaiah Washington — who has played Jaha since the first episode — will no longer be a series regular.